35 Fascinating And Puzzling Facts About Animals You Would Be Glad To Learn

Did you know that a crow could recognize you even in different disguises?

Sophia

• Published in Animals
• June 30, 2022

No matter what age you are or how many experiences you have already gone through in this lifetime, there will always be things about nature that will surprise you—and these things are endless. The universe is vast enough for us to never truly know about everything, and even just on this planet where we live, there are still far a lot of things that are yet to be discovered.

But one thing we don't realize is that there are also plenty of things that we don't know about the mundane. Some of the world's hidden mysteries and interesting quirks are just hidden in plain sight, waiting for us to look within and see the beauty in it.

Among the many things that make this world such an amazing place to live are our beloved animals. Some may despise them and think that they're just creatures that co-exist among humans and are far less important than them, but what many people fail to give importance to is the fact that they are also essential for our survival, and they should not be treated any less than what they deserve just because they are animals.

That being said, there are a lot of interesting things about these creatures that many people don't even have any idea about. They have all kinds of peculiar quirks, oddities, and cool things about them that anyone would be fascinated to know.

It's a good thing that when someone asked the question, "What is your number 1 obscure animal fact?" on Reddit, experts dived in on the thread and shared some of the best animal trivia they know. Here are some of the best entries:

1. Sperm Whales

A sperm whale call is so loud the sound waves could kill a human if they swam close to the whale.

Apparently some divers said they could feel the water heat up from the energy of the sound.

-MountEverest14

2. Vultures

Vultures urinate on their legs and feet to cool off on hot days, a process called urohydrosis. Their urine also helps kill any bacteria or parasites they’ve picked up from walking through carcasses or perching on dead animals. - Iron_Chic

3. Tarantulas

Tarantulas have pet frogs. The frogs eat bugs and parasites that would damage the spider’s eggs, and in turn the spider protects the frog. Even after the eggs hatch they continue to protect the frog. - Hazmatix_art

4. Halibut

All halibut are male until they reach 45 inches in length. They then all become female. - serouslydoe

5. Platypuses

Platypus' glow teal under a UV light, so Perry the Platypus is actually the correct color. - smollindy-loo

6. Caterpillars

When caterpillars enter the chrysalis phase, they don’t just sprout wings, their entire body first turns into a liquid, soupy substance which then reforms into the butterfly. - Unlucky-Pomegranate3

7. Greenland Sharks

The vast majority of Greenland sharks are blind thanks to a special parasite that eats their eyes and replaces them.

It is thought that this might actually be helpful because a) their eyesight was s**t anyway, b) the parasites wave like lures and may have an anglerfish-like effect, and c) the sharks are super slow so that might be one of the few ways for them to catch live prey.

Imagine something eating your eyeballs and it being an *upgrade*.

-Fabled_Webs

8. Penguins

Penguins have a gland above their eye that converts saltwater into freshwater - Yeeteth_thy_baby

9. Honeyguides

In Africa certain tribes communicate directly with birds called Honeyguides letting them know they are ready to hunt. The honey guides then lead them to hidden beehives in trees. The tribesmen break open the hives and take the honey( an important resource in their diet) and leave the honeyguides the bee larva and wax to feast on. In fact, it’s the only known example of targeted two-way signals between people and a free-living species. - spoon_shaped_spoon

10. Tigers

The spines on a Tiger's tongue are sharp enough to lick skin clean off of muscle. - me0619

11. Rabbits

Rabbits don't have pads on their paws. Only fur.

So if you see a cartoon rabbit with pads on its paw, completely wrong.

-FOTBWN

12. Chickens

Chickens will come say goodbye to each other when one is dying and they do soft clicks and will then leave and that chicken will normally die alone. Some chickens also will kill another chicken because they sense something’s wrong with the chicken, a disease for example. Hope u enjoyed these facts I found them in a book called How To Speak Chicken - WalterDaSquirrel1259

13. Frogs

There is a genus of frog called "Mini". There are only three frogs in the genus, and their scientific names are all puns: Mini mum, Mini ature and Mini scule. - SwimmingOnMars

14. Whales

Mine are all whale related:

* Whale milk is so fatty that it has the consistency of toothpaste...

* ...this enables blue whale calves to grow at a rate of approximately 10lbs per hour

* Whales are the loudest animals on the planet - humpback whale songs can be heard 10,000 miles away

* Whales are the longest lived mammals on the planet - in 2007, a deadbowhead whale was found in Alaska with a 19th century harpoon embeddedin its flesh, making the animal at least 130 years old at the time ofits death

* The blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived on earth - far larger than any prehistoric animal discovered to date

-kirkl3s

15. Pacu Fish

Pacu fish have teeth that look exactly like people’s. They evolved to chew nuts that fell into the water. - SunnySaigon

16. Armadillos

To cross a river Armadillos can either sink to the bottom and crawl across since they can hold their breath for 7 minutes or they can inflate their intestines and use them as a flotation device to float. - Madbadbat

7. Emperor Penguins

Every once in awhile, an emperor penguin will do something very strange. Most of them will never do this, but the ones who do have stumped scientists for awhile now.

Every once in awhile, a penguin will turn away from its colony and start heading for the interior of the continent (Antarctica). Away from the food, the water, the safety of the colony. Off alone towards certain death. Almost like zombies. In the past, scientists would try to stop them. Or take them back to the colony. At which point, they'd simply turn around and begin their journey again, in the same direction, toward the same end. Some would even get violent if they were met with intervention.

The prevailing thought is that this penguin is depressed and is committing suicide in a very non-altruistic manner. But nobody knows for sure. There are a lot of possible explanations for this (including the possibility of a fungal infection similar to the cordyceps infection that can cause some colony insects to behave in exactly the same way, potential signs of brain tumors or other medical conditions that the birds are exposed to) It's well known that birds can experience depression or anxiety, but they tend to respond to this in very immediate ways, such as by over-preening (pulling out their own feathers), screaming, or being unusually quiet, loss of appetite, etc. (Bird anorexia is a MAJOR thing) These activities are signs of redirecting stress, while wandering off into the abyss of an unforgiving frozen continent implies the ability to analyze and think ahead in a way that most birds really don't seem to be able to do. So the reason may not be as immediately obvious as you might think.

From what I know, no autopsies have been performed on these rogue penguins. Most likely because the conditions are too harsh to hunt their corpses down. But until one is performed, we really have zero idea why they do this. And yet they do. And the behaviour is common enough that it's been documented multiple times.

-StGir1

18. Crows

Crows recognize individual people even if they are wearing disguises and after many years. (The people are wearing disguises, not the crows.) - PatienceandFortitude

19. Snakes

Snakes don't have eyelids. If you see a snake blink, that's a legless lizard. - CirothUngol

20. Anglerfish

All the deep sea anglerfish you see pictures of with the lil lights hanging over their heads? They're all female.

The males are tiny and born with a terribly weak jaw and a massive hunger. They seek out a female, and torn between hungry and horny they bite her.

She then releases an enzyme that fuses the male to her body. She slowly absorbs them into her body with only their lil testicles remaining so she can instantly fertilize her eggs when she wants to.

Some females have rows and rows of lil testicles on their bodies from where they have absorbed multiple males.

And you thought your sex life was weird, eh?

But no kink shaming.

- Hyzenthlay87

21. Dragonflies

Female dragonflies will fake being dead in order to stop unwanted male advances.  - -eDgAR-

22. Beavers

A beaver's a*s smells like icecream.

Castoreum, the product of those anal glands, was once used as a flavor substitute for vanilla. It’s now only used in perfume and a style of Swedish schnapps called Bäverhojt, or “beaver shout.”

-TheDefected

23. Woodpeckers

Woodpecker tongues wrap around the back of their brains. This helps the brain stay protected during high speed pecking. - powderabuser

24. Octopus

We all know an octopus has 8 legs.

It also has 3 hearts and 9 brains, and it can fit itself through a hole the size of a quarter.

-Waldo_007

25. Bees

The chemical compound which is used to make fake banana flavour is the same compound honey bees use as an alarm pheromone. So never eat banana sweets near a beehive, and if you suddenly smell banana near a beehive, run! - generic-volume

26. Birds

Many bird species will eat the fecal sacks of their young, thus keeping the nest clean for their young.

I no longer wish I knew what it would be like to be a bird.

-HoleyerThanThou

27. Bearcats

The binturong, also known as the bearcat, is an arboreal mammal closely related to the red panda. It smells like popcorn!

My obscure fact about it is that captive binturong are capable of holding grudges, and will climb above people they dislike in order to s**t on their heads.

-gengarde

28. Sharks vs Coconuts

There are more people who die each year because a coconut fell on their head than people who die in shark attacks.

I love this fact.

-Blue0309

29. Roosters

Roosters deafen themselves temporarily every time they crow, so that they don’t damage their own hearing. - Soulfighter56

30. Kangaroos

A kangaroo will mate again one to three days after giving birth. the newborn will latch onto a teat in the pouch and as long as it thrives, the kangaroo can put its newly fertilized embryo in a state of dormancy and have a back up baby ready to go. if the newborn grows out of the pouch or dies, the kangaroos hormones will send signals to start the development of the egg. so they can have an adolescent Joey, a nursing one, and one in stasis all at the same time. - themoonhasgone

31. Sloths

Sloths are literally too lazy to go looking for a mate, so a female sloth will often sit in a tree and scream until a male hears her and decides to mate with her - amishsheepherder

32. Hippopotamuses

Hippos sweat is red. - Ethan8246

33. Squirrels

Idk how obscure it is but the average lifespan for a squirrel is 16 years which is a lot longer than I would have ever thought - covalentbond007

34. Turtles

Turtles can breathe through their butts - ghost_gurrl

35. Sharks and Dinosaurs

Sharks are older than Dinosaurs, Trees, and *the Rings of Saturn*.

Sharks are old as f**k.

-voidsong

Everything's cool and fascinating in the animal world—you just need the determination and patience to see all these details! They truly show how complex and beautiful our world is, and it's always an honor to learn more things about them and how they work as creatures in this macrocosm.

Do you have any animal trivia to share? Comment down your thoughts or share this article for all your family and friends to see!

Sophia